Adam's apple

[Dave Jefferies]

Not quite to the question but ...

I have heard that Amanita phalloides, the Death Cap, is very tasty. It can of course
be eaten with impunity by rabbits. Some other edinle fungi should be cooked and
contain heat labile toxins.

Tasting good is likely to be a function of the sugar content. Other chemicals in the
fruit may affect different species in different ways.

Dave

veldkamp wrote:

> Dear All,
>
>         Someone put forward the following proposition: Any fruit that tastes good
> must be safe to eat.
>
>         My question: does anyone out there know of an apparently deliciously
> edible fruit that will poison and sicken or kill those who eat them?
>
>         Obviously excluded are fruits like grapes, olives, strawberries, etc. to
> which some people are allergic.
>         Borderline cases are Taxus baccata, where the 'flesh' is quite edible, but
> the 'kernel' very poisonous, and Blighia sapida, where there is a red
> membrane between the lobes of the quite edible lobes of the aril.
> Beech-nuts (Fagus silvatica), when eaten in high quantity are reported to
> make you ill because of minute cyanide contents. I never found enough,
> apparently.
>         Also excluded is Cycas cicrcinalis, cause of the Guam disease leading to
> dementia, paralysis, and death.
>         What I'm looking for is the bang-you're-dead (or ill) situation, a bit
> like what the apple did to Adam and Eve, or Sleeping Beauty.
>
> JeF
> Dr. J.F. Veldkamp
> National Herbarium of the Netherlands, Leiden Branch
> POB 9514
> 2300 RA Leiden
> The Netherlands
> e-mail: veldkamp at nhn.leidenuniv.nl
> fax: + 31 0715 27 35 11